The Investigative Report

President Barack Obama has named Allison Macfarlane, a geologist at George Mason University, to lead the Nuclear Regulatory Commission after Chairman Gregory Jaczko’s resignation announcement last month.

I was at the State Capitol to report on a Senate hearing on earthquake preparedness at California’s two nuclear power plants. The assignment was a simple 60-second story, but as the hearing unfolded, I got the feeling that there was a much bigger story to be had.

While the world watches Egypt, another similar struggle is underway in a country that could not be more different -- Belarus, sandwiched between Russia, Poland and the Baltic states, and facing a similar struggle for an independent media and freedom from an authoritarian regime.

One of the most protracted and violent struggles for freedom of the press in Europe since the fall of the Soviet Union is unfolding in Belarus, where a presidential election widely viewed as rigged has sparked protests and a brutal crackdown.

Journalists in Russia have long faced often brutal retaliation for their reporting into organized crime and the corruption of public officials. Now that violence appears to be hitting journalists reporting on one of the country’s most high-profile environmental battles—over the government’s plan to pave a highway through one of the last remaining pristine forests in western Russia.

This week's Global Digest looks into a side effect of Europe's integration: sham marriages. Also, Iceland declares itself the world's first official "safe haven" for whistle-blowers and investigative journalists.

Here at CIR’s Global Digest, it’s been heartening to see what amounts to a boom in nonprofit journalistic enterprises around the world. We’ll be having a look at some of their work over the coming months.

Secret contributions to the president. An aggressive hunt for the source of leaks to a major newspaper about a police investigation into the contributors. Sound familiar? Now add a twist: the contributor in question is heir to the fortune of one of the biggest cosmetics companies in the world — L’Oreal.

Produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting, The I Files is the first channel for investigative journalism on YouTube. Working with major contributors such as The New York Times, Al-Jazeera, ABC, BBC, Vice, Univision, NPR, PBS, Investigative News Network and many more, The I Files selects and showcases the best stories from around the globe.